Contact details

School of Physics and AstronomyUniversity of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Professor Parker is Director of the University of Birmingham Positron Imaging Centre, dedicated to applying variants of the medical imaging technique Positron Emission Tomography to study flows in engineering and the physical sciences. In particular, the technique Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) enables a small radioactively-labelled particle to be accurately tracked as it moves between the detectors of a positron camera. Professor Parker is co-author of over 120 publications in refereed journals. In 2008 he was awarded the Institute of Physics’ Joule Medal “for the creation of positron emission particle tracking as a practical tool in a wide variety of engineering applications”.

Professor Parker is also responsible for the Birmingham MC40 cyclotron. In addition to producing the short-lived radioisotopes required by the Positron Imaging Centre, the cyclotron is used for research in areas ranging from medicine to materials sciences, and (operating as Alta Cyclotron Services Ltd) provides commercial irradiation services.

Professor Parker is programme director of the MSc in Medical and Radiation Physics.

Qualifications

DPhil in Nuclear Physics, University of Oxford, 1984

BA in Mathematics, University of Cambridge, 1979

Biography

David Parker graduated in Mathematics from Cambridge in 1979 and worked for the next ten years in the Nuclear Physics Division of the UKAEA’s Harwell Laboratory, developing applied nuclear techniques. In 1989 he joined the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Birmingham, where he has been responsible for developing the PEPT technique. Between 2002-2004 he oversaw the transfer of the MC40 Cyclotron from Minneapolis to Birmingham. In 2003 he was awarded a five year EPSRC Senior Fellowship to allow him to concentrate on research, and in 2007 he was appointed to a personal chair in Physics.

Professor Parker’s group is working on development of the PET and PEPT techniques, including improvements in tracer labelling and construction of improved positron cameras using redundant medical equipment. Recently he has taken a particular interest in the use of PEPT to study for fundamental granular dynamics studies.

Teaching

Y3/Y4 Medical Imaging

Y3/Y4 Image Processing

MSc Nuclear Radiation Physics

Postgraduate supervision

Supervision of research PhDs in positron imaging and granular dynamics

Research

RESEARCH THEMES

Positron imaging

Granular dynamics

Radiation Physics

Other activities

Director, Alta Cyclotron Services Ltd (the company is wholly-owned by the University of Birmingham, and provides commercial irradiation services using the MC40 Cyclotron)